This invention relates to a shower assembly kit for improving the quality of taking a shower, and particularly for resolving the following problems commonly encountered during taking shower:
(1). A conventional shower faucet or mixing valve has a single handle for controlling water temperature and turning on/off the valve. Before taking a shower, user needs to repeatedly adjust the handle position and feel the temperature until the right temperature is obtained by trial and error. This is time consuming and wasting water. Also during a shower, user may need to turn off the valve for soaping, and turn on the valve again after soaping. Going through the trial and error routine during a shower is particularly inconvenient. Furthermore, when the valve is turned on after soaping, water temperature must cycle from cold to hot, and thus forces user to be exposed to instant cold water. To avoid such unpleasant exposure to instant cold water, user can only do two things, either run away (if there is extra space in the shower stall), or leave the valve on during soaping (if the water flow can be directed away from user). In the later case, more water and energy are wasted.
One prior approach to the above problems is to install a shut off valve on the over head shower pipe. By turning off the shut off valve in lieu of shower faucet, user can stop water flow during soaping while keep the handle position of shower faucet unchanged. After soaping, user can then turn on the shut off valve and immediately restore the water flow at the same temperature. The drawback of this prior approach is that the shut off valve is located on the over head shower pipe at a relatively high elevation. As a result, the shut off valve can not be easily reached, operated or cleaned. The shut off valve needs to be cleaned due to the fact that, after soaping, user needs to turn on the shut off valve with a soaping hand. There is also a potential problem of turning off the shut off valve to keep the shower faucet on under no flow condition. In such case, an open path is created between the hot water and cold water piping systems.
(2). A hand-held shower massage head has been popular for use during shower. It has not only enhanced quality of taking a shower, but also been useful for cleaning the shower environment after a shower. The hand held shower massage head can also be retained by a bracket for use as a fixed shower head. There has been another popular demand for a moveable bracket so that the height of shower head can be adjusted. One commercial application in response to this demand is to provide a bracket sliding on a vertical bar that is anchored to wall. To anchor bar to wall is not only time consuming, but also causing a permanent damage to wall, particularly if the wall is covered with tiles. There has been another popular demand for a shower assembly equipped with both hand-held shower massage head and an over head fixed shower head. One commercial application in response to the above two popular demands is to provide a shower assembly comprising of four principal parts: a hand-held shower massage head, an over head fixed shower head, a flow diverter, and a vertical bar does not require to be anchored to wall. The hand held shower massage head is retained by a bracket slidable on the vertical bar. The flow diverter diverts water flow to the over head shower head or hand held shower massage head, or both. Since flow diverter is located near the over head shower pipe at a high elevation, it is difficult to be reached and operated.
Up to today, there is no single prior approach solving all the above problems simultaneously. Obviously, there are significant economical and commercial benefits for solving all the above problems simultaneously. The shower assembly kit of present invention is capable of solving all the above problems simultaneously, and overcoming all the drawbacks of prior approaches.
The shower assembly kit of present invention comprises of four principal parts: a hand-held shower massage head, an over head fixed shower head, a three-way rotary valve, and a remote actuator assembly for remotely operating the rotary valve from a distance away from the valve.
One distinctive aspect of present invention is to provide an unique three-way rotary valve with combined functions of a shut off valve and a flow diverter. The new valve has four equally divided operating positions within a 360 degree rotation, in which, flow is diverted flow to the over head fixed shower head, hand held shower massage head, both over head fixed shower head and hand held shower massage head, or stop flow at a shut off position.
Another distinctive aspect of present invention is to allow the three-way rotary valve to divert a minimum leakage flow to the hand held shower head to cause water dripping out of hand held shower head when the valve is operated at shut off position. When an user operates the three-way rotary valve at shut off position in conjunction with a shower faucet at desired temperature position, user can interrupt water flow and avoid shower spray during soaping. The three-way rotary valve does not divert any leakage flow to the over head fixed shower head at shut off position so that no water dripping out of over head fixed shower head during soaping. Water dripping out of hand held shower head, that is not located directly above user, will not cause inconvenience to user during soaping. After soaping, user can immediately restore the desired water flow and temperature as soon as the three-way rotary valve being turned on again. In a remotely possible event that user turns off the rotary valve in lieu of shower faucet after completion of shower, continuous water dripping out of hand held shower head provides a warning signal to remind user to turn off the shower faucet. As previously discussed, it is not desirable to keep the shower faucet on under no flow condition due to the fact that it creates an open path between the hot water and cold water piping systems. From fluid dynamic point of view, the minimum leakage flow diverted to the hand held shower head will prevent any leakage between the hot and cold water piping systems.
Another distinctive aspect of present invention is to provide a remote actuator assembly, which not only allows user to remotely operate the three-way rotary valve at a comfortable elevation, but also facilitates the mobility of the hand held shower massage head along the body of remote actuator assembly.